Crypto are a ‘speculative asset’, Fed Chair Powell says

Cryptocurrencies are also not a “great store of value,” Powell said at Cato Institute in Washington.

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Thursday that cryptocurrencies are not being used for payments as such, noting that public interest in these assets lies more in their speculative nature.

Powell said this during a conference at the Cato Institute, Washington, D.C.  

In his response to one of the questions in a Q&A session, the Fed Chair told attendees at the think tank that unbacked cryptocurrencies have not offered, or do not appear to offer, that payment use case that the public may really want to have.

According to him, cryptocurrencies  are also not that great as a store of value, reiterating the fact that what crypto really is “is a speculative asset.”

Crypto and other risk assets eye fresh volatility

Powell’s remarks at the monetary policy conference come as crypto assets struggle with a crushing bear market that has Bitcoin trading below $20,000 and Ethereum looking to re-establish fresh momentum above $1,600. For Ethereum, it’s just days to what could be its most defining upgrade next week (around mid-September) – the Merge.

Ether was trading around $1,638 at the time of writing, nearly 4.5% up in the past 24 hours. ETH is also green over the week, but remains more than 7% down this past month following the dip from $2k

Meanwhile, the broader risk asset markets are bracing for tighter monetary policies from central banks.

On Thursday, the European Central Bank struck with a 75 basis point hike of its principal interest rate, while the Fed is set to set a third consecutive 0.75% hike at its next FOMC meeting on 20-21 September. Reaction across US equities saw some injection of volatility and helped major indices post a second day of modest gains.

The S&P 500 closed over 0.6% higher, as did the Dow Jones Industrial and Nasdaq, with the stock market poised for a weekly close that would help snap a three-week downturn.

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Sweatcoin price prediction ahead of the SWEAT launch

Sweatcoin is the fastest growing fitness project in the world with over 113 million users globally. It is a move-to-earn (MTE) platform that has a close resemblance to StepN, the well-known platform on Solana’s ecosystem. In September, Sweatcoin will launch its SWEAT cryptocurrency that is believed to be the biggest launches this year. So, in this SWEAT price prediction, we will assess whether the coin is a good buy.

What is Sweatcoin?

Sweatcoin is a leading application that is at the intersection of two leading industries: fitness and blockchain. The platform is a mobile application that can be installed in both Android and iOS smartphones. 

Sweatcoin rewards users for making basic exercises like walking and running. It is an accurate platform because it uses the inbuit GPS that is in a person’s phone. Users are then rewarded using the SWEAT token, which exists in its ecosystem.

Sweatcoin has had a lot of success in the past few months. According to its website, it now has over 113 million users and is the number one fitness application in most countries, including the US and the UK. The company has raised millions of dollars from venture capital companies.

What is the SWEAT crypto?

Presently, SWEAT coins that users earn in the ecosystem have no value in the real world. As a result, the developers partnered with NEAR Protocol to launch a new cryptocurrency based on those tokens. 

After months of developments, the SWEAT crypto coin will be launched on September 13th of this year. As a result, existing holders will be awarded fresh new tokens that they can sell in listing cryptocurrency exchanges. People can also decide to hold their tokens and generate returns through staking. 

After the launch, the developers hope to expand the network in various ways. For example, in their second phase, they will launch SWEAT NFTs and a DAo.

SWEAT price prediction

At this point, it is not possible to conduct a SWEAT price prediction since the coin has not been launched yet. Still, we believe that the coin’s price will dip initially as existing holders cash out for fiat currency. If this happens, the sell-off could be brutal as supply will exceed demand.

In the long-term, however, the coin will likely bounce back because of its strong user adoption and brand knowledge. Therefore, for people without SWEAT coins, it will be wise to wait before you buy.

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Anchor Protocol (ANC) Price Soars as Terra’s LUNC and USTC Rebound

Anchor Protocol price went parabolic on Thursday as investors cheered the strong performance of cryptocurrencies associated with Terra. The ANC token jumped to a high of $0.12, which was the highest level since August 9. It has jumped by over 65% from its lowest level in August of this year.

Why is ANC price soaring?

Anchor Protocol was the biggest part of Terra’s ecosystem. It was a platform that allowed people to deposit Terra USD stablecoin and earn exceptional returns. In most periods, the platform had APY of over 20%. ANC was the native token for Anchor Protocol’s ecosystem.

At its peak, Anchor Protocol was one of the biggest decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms in the world with a total value locked (TVL) of over $17 billion. All this came crumbling down in May when Terra USD lost its peg leading to the collapse of Terra’s ecosystem.

Since then, no activity has been going in Anchor Protocol. By design, it only worked with Terra USD, whose price crashed from $1 to below $0.0001. At the same time, several cryptocurrency exchanges like FTX decided to delist ANC.

Anchor Protocol price has staged a strong recovery in the past few days because of the strong price action in Terra’s ecosystem. In the past few weeks, Terra Classic USD (USTC) has surged to a high of $0.08. And according to CoinMarketCap, its total market cap has jumped to over $458 million. 

Similarly, Terra Classic has jumped by more than 100% in the past seven days, giving it a market cap of over $3 billion. The new version of the coin known as LUNA has also rebounded. Other coins in Terra’s ecosystem like Mirror Protocol and Astroport have also risen. 

Some analysts believe that this rebound of Anchor Protocol price is part of a pump and dump scheme since the coin is thinly traded.

Anchor Protocol price prediction

The four-hour chart shows that the ANC price has been in a strong bullish trend in the past few days. Along the way, the coin has managed to move above the important resistance level at $0.1026, which was the lowest level on July 21. As it rose, Anchor Protocol moved above the key resistance at $0.1120 and $0.1187. 

It has also moved above the 25-day and 50-day moving averages while the Awesome Oscillator has moved above the neutral point. Therefore, the coin will likely keep rising as FOMO sets in. This could see it soar to a high of $0.15.

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Bitcoin’s next bull market is on its way, says Pantera Capital’s CEO

The cryptocurrency market is experiencing a bear cycle at the moment, but Pantera Capital’s CEO is confident that the next bull market is on its way.

Dan Morehead, Chief Executive Officer of Pantera Capital, believes that the bear market is coming to an end. He made this known during an interview with Bloomberg earlier this week.

According to Morehead, the next Bitcoin bull market is on its way. He told Bloomberg that;

“We’ve been through three big bear market cycles. I actually think we hit the lows in June, and we are on to the next bull market. It might be rocky and might take a while, but I think we are on to the next leg of a rally.”

He pointed out that the ups and downs in the cryptocurrency space are normal and have happened multiple times over the last decade, including the decline in 2018 and the consecutive market boom in the next few years.

Discussing Bitcoin’s future price, the Pantera Capital boss predicted that the leading cryptocurrency would continue rising by approximately 2.5x per year.

However, Morehead believes that the cryptocurrency market has changed in recent times and doesn’t revolve around Bitcoin and Ether anymore. 

He pointed out that numerous other meaningful projects could develop in much faster temps that Bitcoin over the coming years. He said;

“Bitcoin is no longer everything. There was a time bitcoin was 100% of the market, and for a while, Bitcoin and Ethereum were essentially everything. Now there are many, many really important projects, and you’ve seen bitcoin rally a bit, but the real story is projects other than Bitcoin and Ethereum that rally more.”

While Morehead believes that the bull market is near, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong believes that the bear market will be around for another year or so. He said;

“We all hope it’ll be, you know, 12 to 18 months and a nice recovery, but you obviously have to plan for it being longer than that. And so that’s how we think about it. And we don’t try to get too cute about predicting the future.”

Prices of most cryptocurrencies are down by more than 65% from their all-time highs, with the total market cap now below $1 trillion.

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Terra Classic’s LUNC is up by 50% on Thursday: Here is why

LUNC, the native coin of the Terra Classic ecosystem, is up by 50% in the last 24 hours, outperforming the other major cryptocurrencies.

LUNC is the best performer amongst the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap today. The native token of the Terra Classic ecosystem is up by more than 50% in the last 24 hours, outperforming the broader crypto market.

The cryptocurrency market is recovering from the slump suffered on Wednesday. The total market cap is now up by more than 4% in the last 24 hours and currently trades above $975 billion.

Bitcoin is eyeing the $20k resistance point once again after adding nearly 3% to its value today. Ether is up by more than 7% in the last 24 hours and is trading above $1,600 ahead of the Merge.

LUNC’s rally comes as the Terra Classic ecosystem prepares for its 1.2% tax burn. Several exchanges, including KuCoin, have announced support for Terra Classic’s 1.2% tax burn when the proposal is officially approved and implemented on Terra Classic (LUNC) mainnet.

Key levels to watch

The LUNC/USDT 4-hour chart is extremely bullish as the cryptocurrency is up by more than 130% in the last seven days. The technical indicators show that it is one of the best performers in the market.

The MACD line is within the positive territory, indicating bullish momentum for LUNC. The 14-day relative strength index of 78 shows that LUNC could enter the overbought region if the rally is sustained.

At press time, LUNC is trading at $0.0005318 per coin. If the positive momentum is maintained, LUNC could surge past the $0.000751 resistance level. In the event of an extended bullish run, LUNC could set a new all-time high around $0.001 level. 

The bears are still lurking and could drag LUNC lower after the tax burn event. If that happens, LUNC could decline below the $0.00040495 support level. 

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